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The Atlanta Hawks will face a win-or-go home scenario in Game 5 without the services of star guard Dejounte Murray.

The NBA announced a one-game suspension for Murray after he confronted official Gediminas Petraitis following Game 4, bumping into him as he gave him some choice words in his ear.

Murray continued to yell back at Petraitis as his teammates steered him towards the tunnel, and it was reported shortly after that the league would be investigating the matter. They ultimately decided Murray’s actions crossed the line by making contact with an official, which they have always frowned upon, and suspended him for a game for “making inappropriate contact with and verbally abusing a game official.”

Murray has been the Hawks’ most consistent offensive performer of the series so far, scoring at least 23 points in every game against the Celtics. Without Murray, Atlanta faces an uphill battle as Boston will focus even more of their energy on pressuring Trae Young, who now will have an even greater creation burden in Game 5. Young has had back-to-back big nights to help Atlanta pick up a split at home and force the series back to Boston, but without Murray, he won’t have much in the way of on-ball help when the Celtics send extra attention his way to get the ball out of his hands.

With the increase in AI-generated content, it’s getting harder and harder to know what was made by a human and what was just thrown together by a robot. Some things you can definitely tell are not real (it’s always the teeth) but as technology advances, it seems impossible to tell the difference between a real Grimes song and a fake Grimes song. Though let’s be honest, Grimes has never been shy about her desire to be a computer.

Now that AI is taking over art, music, and basic conversation, the next logical step would be to start creating AI-generated movies, which is something that Joe Russo of the Russo Bros duo thinks will happen very soon. Too soon, maybe!

Russo, who directed Avengers: Endgame, a real movie that is inhabited by dozens of CGI superheroes, thinks that AI-generated movies are on the horizon. He also admits that he is on “on the board of a few AI companies,” so we are in for a whole new batch of AI movies, whether we want it or not. Russo told Collider, “What you could do with [AI] is obviously use it to engineer storytelling and change storytelling,” he explains. Though the word “obvious” is doing quite a bit of heavy lifting in this scenario. He continued:

So you have a constantly evolving story, either in a game or in a movie, or a TV show. You could walk into your house and save the AI on your streaming platform. “Hey, I want a movie starring my photoreal avatar and Marilyn Monroe’s photoreal avatar. I want it to be a rom-com because I’ve had a rough day,” and it renders a very competent story with dialogue that mimics your voice. It mimics your voice, and suddenly now you have a rom-com starring you that’s 90 minutes long. So you can curate your story specifically to you.

Does this seem a little risky? Yes. Does it also sound like a Joaquin Phoenix movie? Yes. But it also does seem to be a place that many artmakers are heading, especially with the usage of various “aging” technologies that keeps Harrison Ford in business.

Russo believes that AI can be utilized specifically in the gaming community. “Say you want Fortnite to be more of a horror game, right? Then you could ask the AI to ramp up the horror elements of it,” he explained. “So again, you could curate your experience.I think that’s where it’s going. How quickly we get there, I don’t know, but that’s where it’s going.”

If we don’t need actors or storytellers or even directors anymore, then…what are we left with? Should those people be forced to get real jobs, like plumbers or accountants? Imagine Joaquin Phoenix as a handyman. It’s impossible! Let the actors act!

(Via Collider)

Aaron Rodgers is finally a New York Jet. After months of chatter about Rodgers’ future and the star quarterback outright saying he wanted to be traded to the Jets, the two sides reached an agreement on Monday that allows them both to move forward for draft week.

The deal sees the two sides swap first round picks this year, as well as some late round picks exchanging hands, with the biggest prize for the Packers being a second round pick this year and a conditional second next year that can become a first round pick if Rodgers plays 65 percent of the snaps for New York in 2023. It’s a fascinating trade in that the market for Rodgers was almost non-existent beyond New York, but Green Bay still held enough leverage in the negotiations to get some value in return for the former MVP.

It was also fascinating because we got to watch the process of Adam Schefter breaking the news live on air, as he was doing a hit with NFL Live when the text came in, leading to some truly tremendous television as the crew learned the details of the trade as Schefter was receiving the information.

Schefter having to shush Marcus Spears because the big fella got too excited about the Packers getting a first for Rodgers — before learning it was a swap of No. 15 for No. 13 — is spectacular, as is Laura Rutledge being the one able to hold things on course amid the chaos of the live report. It’s also pretty great watching all of them process what the return was for Rodgers in real time (as Schefter sorts it all out himself), with Mina Kimes agreeing with Rutledge that the conditional pick is the real star of the trade, as that could be a good pick for Green Bay depending on how things go for New York and Rodgers.

In season two of Power Book II: Ghost, rapper and actor Redman was brought on to play a character named Theo Rollins. That character is the brother of Davis McClean who is played by Method Man. As many of you know, Redman and Method Man have been close friends for years and they even formed the rap duo Method Man & Redman in 1994.

Redman appeared in three episodes of Power Book II: Ghost during season two, and fans really enjoyed seeing him and Method Man on screen. Unfortunately for them, Redman was surprisingly replaced by Jordan Mahome in season three and it left fans to wonder what caused the switch. Well, it turns out that Redman’s refusal to get a COVID vaccination caused him to be replaced on the show. “I walked away from it because they wanted me to be vaccinated and I’m not vaccinating s***, ” Redman said during an interview with HitStory Makers at the end of 2022.

Method Man previously spoke about his excitement about working with Redman on Power: Ghost during an interview Vibe. “It’s always dope to work with somebody you’ve worked with over the years, but just not somebody that you’ve always worked with, but someone that you trust as far as stage performances and things like that,” he said. “So anytime you put Redman and Method Man on-screen together, not only are you going to get chemistry, you going to get synergy, as well as professionalism.”

You can hear Redman’s response about his Power Book II: Ghost absence above.

New episodes of ‘Power Book II: Ghost’ are available on the STARZ app on Fridays at 12:00 am EST and on the STARZ TV channel at 8:00 pm EST.

Nothing in fast food is as hype as breakfast. Maybe it’s the limited window of availability or maybe it’s just because there’s something so satisfying about a carb-loaded sandwich first thing in the morning, but the drive-thru line at your favorite fast food chain is never as packed as at the early hours of the day. Clearly, there is something extra special about breakfast food.

In our time covering fast food, we’ve raced against the clock to grab many a breakfast sandwich… but we’ve never put breakfast food to the trusty blind taste test. Until now! That’s right, we woke up super early this morning (after Coachella weekend no less) to grab as many breakfast sandwiches as we could to put them to the blind taste test.

Who makes the ultimate breakfast sandwich? Let’s find out.

Methodology:

For this blind taste test, we decided to focus on sausage-based sandwiches since they seem to be the most popular.

Acquiring the sandwiches for this blind taste test was relatively easy, if time-consuming — each of the four fast food restaurants selected for this tasting was located on the same street (Pacific Coast Highway, it’s more glamorous than it sounds) so it took a total of 30 minutes to grab all the sandwiches and about 10 more minutes for me to arrive back home. Because of time and distance, I had to drop Wendy’s from this blind taste test. We’ll get them in the next breakfast round!

Altogether it was a 40 minutes transit time — not perfect, but each of the sandwiches was still warm-to-hot and I think time doesn’t have as strong an effect on a breakfast sandwich as it does on something like a cheeseburger, where the sauce can soak into the bun causing a soggy mess. Here is this morning’s tasting class:

• Carl’s Jr. — Grilled Cheese With Sausage and Egg
• Chick-fil-A — Sausage Egg & Cheese Muffin
• Jack in the Box — Sausage Croissant Sandwich
• McDonald’s — Sausage McMuffin with Egg

Once home, I donned my blindfold and had my girlfriend serve me each sandwich one at a time. The blindfold helped ensure that I couldn’t easily identify where each sandwich was from since two of the sandwiches used noticeably different bread buns. I thought I’d be able to pick them out by feeling, but I was wrong — all four felt super greasy to the touch.

Let’s get to tasting!

Part 1: The Tasting

Taste 1:

Very soft buns here, they have a squishy airiness to them and feel buttery to the touch. Biting into the sandwich I’m getting a bland unseasoned egg flavor and a spicy meaty finish. It’s incredibly dry and kind of a chore to chew through. Not a fan of this one.

Taste 2:

A leap up from taste 1, this sandwich is also super soft to the touch, and a lot less greasy. Biting into it I’m getting some salty notes, a hunt of black pepper, a savory meat flavor, and some butter on the finish. The egg here is very wet and it mixes well with the melty cheese.

Taste 3:

Near perfect. There is a soft airiness to this sandwich, each component is distinct, the buns are nicely toasted, the sausage is smokey, savory, and very peppery, the egg has some moisture but not too much to the point of being off-putting, and the cheese provides a perfect salty contrast to the pepper. The flaw? Those are thicccc bread slices and it makes this… very bread-y (send me the Pulitzer pls & thanks.).

Taste 4:

There is something in this sausage that the other sandwiches don’t have, it’s earthy… possibly oregano? Whatever it is, it’s delicious. While the sausage is good I’m a little less wowed by the other components. The bun here has a nice butter-forward flavor, but this sandwich is a bit too bready. I’m not tasting enough egg or cheese.

Part 2: The Ranking

4. Jack in the Box — Sausage Croissant Sandwich (Taste 1)

I know, it’s hard to believe this would rank lost because the idea of a sausage sandwich on a croissant is a good one, but Jack in the Box can’t nail the execution here. Never mind that this bun isn’t flakey like a real croissant (it’s pumped with preservatives making it come across as indistinguishable from boring white sandwich bread) but JiB just didn’t even bother to season it.

The sausage is bland, the egg is bland, the bread is bland… this sandwich has nothing going for it.

The Bottom Line:

Great idea, poor execution.

Find your nearest Jack in the Box here.

3. Carl’s Jr — Grilled Cheese with Sausage And Egg (Taste 4)

I wanted to rank this one higher because the sausage was easily the best of the lineup, but the rest of this sandwich just didn’t deliver. I think that comes down to the thickness of the toast, it’s so bready that it drowns out all the flavor from the cheese and egg.

In a sandwich that’s billed as a ‘grilled cheese,’ you expect more cheese, but it’s just not here.

The Bottom Line:

A great flavor, but too much bread for its own good.

Find your nearest Carl’s Jr. here.

2. Chick-fil-A — Sausage Egg & Cheese Muffin (Taste 2)

Each individual component of this sandwich is tasty and well seasoned, but for whatever reason it just doesn’t all come together like our number one choice. It could be because it doesn’t have an identity of its own, it’s clear that Chick-fil-A is trying hard to be McDonald’s here, and they just can’t pull it off.

It’s a shame because the quality control at Chick-fil-A is on-point but the weakest component here is the English muffin bun. It doesn’t have that same addicting craggily texture that McDonald’s has, it’s too soft and spongey and could do with more toasting or grilling time. If Chick-fil-A had its own bun idea here, it might work out better but, as it stands, it feels like an imitation of a classic rather than a classic itself.

The Bottom Line:

A pale imitation of our number one choice.

Find your nearest Chick-fil-A here.

1. McDonald’s — Sausage McMuffin with Egg (Taste 3)

McDonald’s Sausage McMuffin with Egg is the perfect breakfast sandwich. A perfect balance of peppery, meaty, salty, and savory flavors, each component of this sandwich delivers everything you expect it to and, as the cherry on top, it’s served up on a perfectly toasty English muffin bun that manages to be both crunchy enough to add texture and soft once you bite it.

A lot of breakfast sandwiches suffer from being a bit dry, but not this one, there isn’t a single thing we’d change about this sandwich and that says a lot for its quality. Next to the fries, this might be McDonald’s best menu item.

The Bottom Line:

The Sausage McMuffin with Egg sets the standard for what a great fast food breakfast sandwich should be.

Find your nearest McDonald’s here.

Succession was all about Alexander Skarsgård’s character, Lukas Matsson, this week. Of course, I am exaggerating but the episode still felt 90% Skarsgård, which is never a bad percentage when it comes to plugging him into an HBO show. Interestingly enough, however, the Roy siblings began their trip across the pond with Kendall declaring that it was an occasion to “bleed the Swede.” Little did anyone realize that the Swede was bleeding himself.

This was a True Blood easter egg, for sure. Yet for an obnoxious tech-bro character who dude fakes everyone out, Matsson has a legion of fans among the viewership. Let’s get real, though. The appeal spawns from fandom for the actor, who was kind enough to let his abs do some of the work in this scene.

No one was mad to see it happen. Play it again, Skarsgård.

That scene had such an effect that it couldn’t be dampened by a later revelation of Matsson’s dubious pastime/fetish. As revealed to Shiv during a late night conversation, Lukas has a crush on his comms director, so he sends her his blood as a token of his affection. That’s not good PR, as Shiv points out while adding, “Deniability is difficult, given she has so much… of your blood.” And no one can deny that hearts were still pumping, “sicko” or not.

HBO’s Succession airs on Sunday nights at 9:00pm EST.

The Rap Mount Rushmore meme reared its head once again on the latest episode of The Bootleg Kev show as the DJ asked his guest Nick Cannon about one of the most notable names in rap.

Cannon and Kev shared their praise of Nicki Minaj, who Cannon took care to note is among the greatest of all time regardless of gender. “She’s one of the coldest artists in the last decade,” he enthused. “We can’t sleep on her skill, her pen, sonically. She changed the game. ‘Monster’? That was her record.”

As he expanded, he went a little more old-school, saying, “The only person, to me, that has the same level of talent, and that we should even be comparing her to, is Lauryn Hill or Missy Elliott. Those three, that’s the Mount Rushmore.”

The Rap Mount Rushmore meme has been a recurring theme online since it’s always good for some engagement. Within the last few years, we’ve gotten takes from the likes of Ja Rule and J. Cole, with the latter putting a tongue-in-cheek spin on things, along with reactions from the likes of the West Coast rap legends who named their group after the meme and Nicki Minaj herself. Meanwhile, Lil Baby had some fun with it for the cover of his album It’s Only Me after fans debated his inclusion in one for Atlanta rappers.

The New York Jets were linked to just about every big name quarterback on the market this offseason, and the case can be made that they went out and acquired the biggest name of them all. After weeks of negotiations between the various sides, New York has reportedly landed Aaron Rodgers, whose time with the Green Bay Packers will officially come to an end.

It took a few times of negotiations stalling out and restarting, but the two teams have finally agreed to a trade that sees them swap first rounders this year, with Green Bay getting a second this year and a 2024 second that becomes a first of Rodgers plays 65 percent of the season for the Jets this year.

New York showed flashes of being one of the more promising young teams in the NFL last season, but often found itself handcuffed by subpar quarterback play. Four separate players — Joe Flacco, Chris Streveler, Mike White, and Zach Wilson — all started at least one game under center, with Wilson’s time, in particular, leading to plenty of scrutiny. The former No. 2 overall pick struggled with injuries, but also got benched and was not expected to return as the Jets’ starting signal caller in 2023.

With the need for a new QB, the Jets saw themselves linked to names like Derek Carr in the free agent market. But eventually, it became obvious that New York wanted to acquire Rodgers, the 39-year-old who has exclusively played his professional football in a Packers uniform. The 4-time NFL Most Valuable Player made clear that he was not sure if he’d return to Green Bay, seek greener pastures, or retire, although it was eventually reported that a 19th season with the Packers was unlikely.

Now that Rodgers is heading to New York, the expectation is that Green Bay will turn things over to Jordan Love, the No. 26 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft who has backed up Rodgers in each of the last three seasons.

There are over 2,700 stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Big Bird has one, Pentatonix have one, even freaking Shrek has one, but not Carrie Fisher. The iconic actress, author, and good-dog-haver has not been immortalized on Hollywood Boulevard, unlike her Star Wars co-stars Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford. This injustice will finally be corrected on May 4th, a.k.a. Star Wars Day.

“Fans will be over the moon to know that their favorite movie princess, Carrie Fisher will be honored with her star on the iconic Hollywood Walk of Fame! Carrie will join her Star Wars co-stars and fellow Walk of Famers Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford on this historic sidewalk” Ana Martinez, Hollywood Walk of Fame producer, said in a statement. “I am happy to add, that her star is just a few feet away from the star of Mark Hamill and across the street from the star of her legendary mother Debbie Reynolds!”

The ceremony will be held on Thursday, May 4, at 11:30 a.m. PST. Once Fisher joins Hamill and Ford, this should open the flood gates for more Star Wars characters on the Walk of Fame (the random weirdos dressed as Leia around Hollywood do not count). Your time is coming soon, Boss Nass. I know it.

(Via Walk of Fame)

Big Mouth, Netflix’s raunchy animated series about the trials and tribulations of being a middle schooler, is coming to an end after eight seasons of weirdo situations that make you feel like you shouldn’t really be watching.

The series features an all-star cast of comedians led by Nick Kroll, including John Mulaney, Ayo Edebiri, Jason Mantzoukas, Maya Rudolph, and Fred Armisen. The upcoming seventh season will air in 2023, and the final season is expected to premiere in 2024, so there are still a lot more masturbation jokes to come. According to Netflix, there have been 689 so far, but who’s counting? Like, actually, who counted those jokes and what was that experience like?

Of course, the series can’t end without making a little bit of history. With eight seasons, Big Mouth will become the longest-running series in Netflix history (aside from kids and family programming because nobody will ever beat the cult classic Cocomelon). The series also has its own spinoff show Human Resources, which is currently in its second season of shenanigans.

In a press release, Kroll poked fun at the long-running series, “If you would have told adolescent Nick Kroll and Andrew Goldberg that middle school would take 8 years to finish, they would have been like ‘yeah, that sounds about right. This seems like it will never end.’” It’s good when series creators are aware of when their shows need to end. Someone should bring that energy over to Riverdale.